Hello all we are planning a huge camping trip in 2011 just wondering is there really a need for the dinning plan if your camping?????
Guess that depends on how much time you plan on spending in the parks vs at the campsite. If your group is gonna be at the parks all day everyday then the dining plan might be worth it but if your gonna spend a lot of time at the Fort or only go to the parks for a couple hours at a time then cooking at the campsite is the way to go and it saves a ton of cash which can then be invested in the adult beverages of your choice.
In my opinion, no. We have done the dining plan before staying at the resorts, but our last trip was probably the last time. Everything revolves around eating, the food has gotten mediocre in most places and you lose spontaneity. There are still good places to eat at Disney,just not as many and much harder to get into. When you're camping eat some meals at your site and you'll be ahead of the game.
We are trying the new Quick Service plan for our next trip since we didn't want to be tied to ADRs anywhere. I'll let you know how it works out. Last year we brought all kinds of food and swore that we would cook at the campsite all the time and ended taking most of it home. Luckily we only live a few hours away or I could easily see us throwing most of it out. I guess it is like the PP said. It really depends on how you plan on spending your days.
Have you been to Disney World before? We went last October... wife and I hadn't been there in about 30 years, and our kids had never been there. We were in the parks all but the one day we spent at the campground. The Dining Plan worked great for us - we had the one table service, one counter service, and one snack plan. We had a simple breakfast in the camper, then took off for the day. When we go back (hopefully within a year or two!), we may not do the dining plan. We have a better idea what to expect, and how to organize our days. We will probably have more meals at our camper, with just a couple "dining out" meals.
We've done it both ways. IMO, it really depends more on how you eat, what your budget is, how much time you want to spend doing things in the park... and how fond you are of cooking on vacation? We don't do the DDP anymore - partly because we felt like we were spending an awful lot of time planning for meals and planning around meals, and partly because they changed the plan (to no longer include appetizer and gratuity) and it didn't make as much sense for us economically any more. But the 2 years we did it we enjoyed it very much. We consider dining a big part of our vacation, and the DDP allowed us to try a lot of restaurants on property that we never would have otherwise because of the out-of-pocket costs. Keep in mind that doing a TS meal every day will take up a good chunk of time, and will require planning to make sure you get all your ADRs lined up. Also take into account how much food you'd normally eat in a given day, and how much you're going to be getting on the DDP. Both times we did it (2006 & 2007)we found ourselves with lots of desserts in the camper fridge and a whole stack of CS credits left at the end of our stay (which we "bought" all our friends lunch one day!) If you're looking at it from a budget standpoint, I'd recommend checking out the actual menus and pricing out what a typical day would cost you eating the way your normally would vs the cost of the meal plan (don't forget to add in the gratuity).
taking from WDW Today podcast, which I agree with..... DDP is worth the money if you are sure you can get ADR's for the places you really want to eat at and they are the more pricy stops. If you are just eating at the less expensive places, it is not worth the money. I couldn't agree more with the earlier posters. It really does depend on what kind of trip you are looking at. My honeymoon was perfect for the dining plan. My large family vacation last year with kids and grandparents, it was not so good. We had to plan our day around reservations instead of touring the parks. Plus we did not get some of the better restaurants. Like I said in the beginning, that made it not worth the money.
Take into consideration how MUCH you eat too. We are big eaters, but the DDP was actually a lot of food for our family. We enjoyed it and would definitely do it again if we stayed in a hotel, but not for camping. We had way too much food left over and could have easily split most of our CS meals. I agree with pp - if you're going to be in the parks most of the day, the DDP may be the way to go. If you are planning on "taking it easy" you could do some meals out and some at your campsite. You will likely still spend less money by doing it that way. At the end of the day, it all depends on what works best for you and your family.
We didn't have any problems with Advanced Dinner Reservations, but we went during a slow period (October). We only made two ADRs, one for dinner at Cinderella's Castle, and one for Hoop-De-Do-Review. Wife, Sister-in-law, and daughter went to dinner at Cinderella's Castle and they recommend it highly, very much a "Disney experience". The rest of the table service meals we just did as "walk in". If one place was too crowded, we went to another. But every time (that I remember) we had no problem getting a table where we wanted. There are A LOT of restaurants in Disney World! We didn't get to a bunch of restaurants that I would have liked to, but that just leaves more things for us to look forward to on our next trip!
Subbing to this thread, as I'd like to know how it works out for you! This is exactly what I'm considering for our next trip. It won't be until next fall, but I'm trying to put the trip together in my head at this point. We are planning to make this trip more "relaxed" and spend time at the campground, but I'm just not sure -aside from breakfast - how much food prep I want to bother with while at Disney. The Quick Service plan might be just the ticket! .
